More Sightings?

The camera surveillance I have at Carmen's house is not capturing any other cat images.  It's just her cat and the black-and-gray tabby.  If I don't see any new cats on video for another day or two, I will move it to the Vista Park area.  A woman called me who lives in that area, who also has a ruddy Abyssinian, telling me that her friend who comes over to her house and is familiar with Abyssinian cats said that she had seen one in her backyard.  She lives on Ridgeway, close to Vista Park.  However, when I called her, she was back-pedaling, telling me that the cat she saw may not have been an Aby, it was a week ago, did not get a good glipmse, etc.  May be she just wanted to be left alone, and she wasn't exactly being helpful.  She did say that the cat ran towards Culebra Rd.  So on Saturday, I did a door-to-door handing out about 20 flyers to the houses around Vista Park, along Ridgeway, Vista, Culebra, and Chiltern.  I talked to a few residents who happened to be at home at the time, and one woman on Culebra said she saw a brown cat when her dog was staring into the backyard and barking at something.  That was a week ago as well. So perhaps, Chai or her look-alike ran from the Ridgeway house to the Culebra house across the street.  At least it's two sightings in that area.  I will need to scope out an area that would be welcoming to a cat somewhere here to set up the camera.

I just printed out a map of the area to hand out more flyers.  There are a few cul-de-sacs in the area and lots of wooded area.  May be she's hanging out there.  If the other sightings were true Chai sightings, she is traveling northeast of home, and she may end up here.  It is a possibility.  It's about a mile from my house.  I will wait for more phone calls after distributing handouts.

In the meantime, I've also made my car into the Lost-Cat Headquarters, not only stocking my car with supplies of cat food, flyers, flashlight, staple gun, duct tape, etc, but also taping florescent posters on both rear passenger windows and the rear window of my Prius.  There is no law against posters on cars, so there.  I don't give up that easily.

The camera set up in my backyard has caught a couple new cats.  One is the same one that hangs around 1585 Black Mountain.  I guess he gets around.  Another one is a calico or tortie, rather bushy looking.  I have never seen this one before.  So new cats are finding the feeding station.  I am hoping that one of these days, Chai also finds food to eat here.

So, as to my plans for the next several weeks, if I don't find Chai during this time, I will distribute more handout flyers to different neighborhoods.  The next surveillance area would be around Vista Park or a street or two to the east of it.  The next spot will be at 1460 Marlborough.  I keep getting calls about a brown cat in this area, and I want to make sure it's the same brown cat which is not Chai.  Maybe there are several brown cats here.

For crying out loud, she's been gone for over 5 weeks, so she better have found a new territory that she is hanging around.  Hopefully, she's staying put in one area so someone sees her on a consistent basis.  Where are you Chai???

Huge Disappointment

Now the trail camera has been set up right outside the open garage door at Carmen's house.  I set this up after I got a call from Carmen on Tuesday night that a small brown cat that she's never seen before came around to eat at her cat's food bowl.  She said this cat came around 3 times that night.  So I set the camera up yesterday morning.

Then last night,as I was driving home, I got another call from Carmen that she has my cat locked up in her garage.  I was cautiously optimistic since most of the sightings happened not to be of Chai.  I drove in the rain, and as fast as possible.  When I got there, the garage light was not working.  Good thing my car has been converted as a missing cat search headquarters so I had a flash light, head light, feeding supplies, leather gloves (in case I need to handle Chai who may have gone quite wild by now), extra flyers, staple gun, duct tape, etc.  I took the flash light and searched in the garage, first under the cat, then under the old beds that were in a spare room off of the garage.  I found a cat, but not it was NOT Chai.  A black (or dark brown) and gray marbled/striped tabby.  A cute cat, but definitely not Chai.

 Brown (or Gray) and Black Marble Tabby

The adult grand daughter thought that was my cat, but Carmen said the cat she was did not have any stripes, and all brown.  I was disappointed, but the fact that Carmen said the cat in the garage is not the cat she saw on Tuesday night gave me renewed hope.  I still thanked them profusely as they are trying to help me the best the can.  They are really nice.

I doubt that Chai would be moving around when it is raining.  She never went outside if it's raining in the past.  I think she was holed up somewhere last night, not moving around.  It's finally sunny again after another round of showers in the morning.  Hopefully, it will be dry tonight so that Chai would come around.  I hope it is Chai that Carmen saw the other night.

Municipal Code Violation

Not such a great day for me.  No new cats have been caught on the trail cam at either of the locations.  Now the raccoons found their way to the feeding station.  They are everywhere!

Hillsborough Police called me and told me that my lost-cat posters are against the municipal code.  They are taking them down wherever they see them.  If they are going to take them down, I am not going to tell them where I posted them all.  Let them find them themselves.  My tax dollars at work.  So heartless.  Now I can't even post any new posters here.  I guess the only thing is to post it at my house fence since this is MY PROPERTY.  So discouraged and depressed now.

The Cat at Tina's Side Yard

So it looks like the cat Tina saw at her house on 1585 Black Mountain is not Chai.  I captured a small cat eating at the feeding station that I had set up with my trail cam pointing at it.  This cat came by in the afternoon and several times during the night to feed.  She is petite, has exotic looking face, and has brownish fur but more like a dilute tortie with some tabby stripes on her legs and face.  She also has some white on her face and legs.  Chai has no white fur anywhere.

I sent the video to Tina to confirm.  She thinks this is the cat she saw but not 100% sure...  She mentioned how the eyes were slanting upwards, and this cat definitely has that look.  Chai has more roundish eyes.  Anyways, Tina said she would keep her eyes open for Chai.

 Cat that Tina Saw (NOT Chai)

I will leave my camera there for another week.  Then I will move it down to Joyce/Wedgewood/Buckingham area.  Probably either inside or right outside her garage where cats are seen eating.  Carmen, the elderly lady who has 4 min-pin dogs inside her house and a really old cat living in her garage, gave me permission to do so.  After this does not pan out, I have no idea where to set up the second camera.  The first camera is still in the secluded area in my backyard.  The same black-and-white cat comes to visit every night.  Since John fixed the broken fence, I see no more raccoons or dogs (yay)!

A Promising Lead

Very promising lead came in early in the evening yesterday.  Tina who lives at 1585 Black Mountain, the same location where I had the trail camera set up right outside the fence a couple of weeks ago and took videos of the same three cats of which none were Chai, called to tell me that she thought she saw Chai lounging underneath a chair right outside the door to her side yard.  Before this call, when I got her permission to set up the camera outside the fence, she was insistent that none of the cats that hang around her property was Chai.  She vaguely implied that one kind of looks like her, but Chai has cuter face.  When the camera was set up there before, she was right; there was a cat that in black-and-white, had similar coloring as Chai, but larger with shorter stripey legs and small ears.  Not Chai.

This time she said the cat she was was petite, triangular face and eyes that go upwards, just like in the picture of Chai that's posted.  She said that this cat did not look like an ordinary cat, but rather looked like an expensive cat.  She was gracious to let me set up the trail camera about 10 feet from the chair, under an awning and protected by three walls and concrete floor about 3'x4'.  Her side yard looked very secluded, serene, with shrubs around.  I think if I were a cat, it would be a good place to hang out.  I also put some dry cat food and a can of wet cat food in two separate paper bowls, and used a bowl lying around there for water.

I went back at 8:30pm tonight.  The food was gone!  I set out some jack mackerel, some leftover shredded roast chicken, and more water.  I am a bit nervous that the camera is set up a little too high.  Tomorrow morning, I will adjust it so that it is about 1' to 1.5' from the ground.  Hopefully it captured cats eating during daylight as well as night time.  This is the most promising lead to date.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that Chai is captured on video within a week.

I also got a call from Grace who lives at 1460 Marlborough.  She first sent me a pic of a cat she saw.  I think it was the same cat that I saw outside her property a couple of weeks ago.  It is so nice that people care.  I thanked her profusely for her effort and to keep on looking, that Chai is still missing.

Just as there are really nice people, there are heartless people who tear down my posters.  Jerks!!!

 Grace's photo of a brown cat in her yard

Possum

Getting pretty discouraged here, and also feel pretty exhausted.  Yesterday, I got a call that a woman saw a cat that looks like the cat on my lost-cat poster right behind a gate at this ginormous chateau on Ralston (3250 Ralston).  I met her at West School, and I followed her in my car to the mansion.  The mansion was large and the grounds looked infinite.  I called out to Chai, but again, per usual no signs of Chai or any other cat for that matter.  This site was 1.7 miles from home, so I doubt that she would have traveled this distance.  But you never know...  Based on one account, an Aby rescuer trapped an Aby that belonged to someone 5 miles away.  The owner said the cat had been gone for a year!

The trail cam in the park captured a possum devouring all of the food that I had set out last night.  Not enough for that blond lab to eat at 6:30am.  Poor doggy :)

A Possum

I went to Joyce/Buckingham/Wedgewood area again this morning. I talked to an elderly lady (Carmen) who has a cat that lives in her garage and 4 min-pins inside.  She said she had 3 cats and now down to 1.  2 just disappeared one day and never came back.  I hope that's not Chai's fate...  She leaves the door to the detached garage open so that her cat can go in and out.  I checked out the garage.  It looks like a haven for a cat.  Perhaps Chai come around here?  I got Carmen's permission to set up the trail camera in her garage.  She was super kind and sympathetic.  I will leave the camera at the Crossroads Park for one more night and then move the camera to her garage area.  Still trying my darnedest to locate Chai's new territory.

No Luck at the Crossroads Park

Well, the trail camera that I had set up at the Crossroads Park captured a yellow lab and a fluffly white/cream (or orange, as orange shows up as white in infrared videos) cat eating at the feeding station over the last two days.  Nothing else thus far.

Fluffy White (or Orange) Cat

The feeding station in my backyard is frequented by that black-and-white fluffy cat, and sometimes raccoons.  No other cats except when Justin let out Java, he was sniffing around the feeding station (empty during the day).

I went to talk to a few neighbors at Joyce/Buckingham last night.  The 11-yo girl, Lucy's daughter, was positive the cat that sat for a moment at the mound in front of her house was Chai.  I showed her additional pictures of Chai, and she was sure.  The girl saw the cat twice last week, on Wed and Fri.  Lucy has two big dogs, so I doubt that Chai would be hanging around her house.  I will rule this house out as a potential site for my next trail camera and feeding station setting.  Lucy also told me that there is an old house at the corner of Joyce and Wedgewood where the people feed stray cats.  I will go talk to them as well.

Alcy, another neighbor across the street from Lucy said she saw a brown cat on Monday run across 1370 Buckingham when a small dog barked.  She did not get a great view of her, but she said the cat was definitely NOT fluffy, but long.  Well, Abyssinian cats are known for their tubular body shape.

Funny 1370 Buckingham is also the address where a woman named Audrey called me when she got my postcard to check out the cat sitting on her backyard fence.  When I got there, the cat was still there, but not Chai.  It was dusk so she could not tell exactly the color of the cat, but when it moved, I could tell that it was more charcoal gray with marbling going on on the side of the body.  Not Chai.  It seems that she loves cats and want to help me.  I knocked on Audrey's house, but this time her mother answered the door.  Very sweet lady.  They are keeping their eyes open for Chai.  I asked her to talk to Audry to set up the cat trap she has.  I may go back there to talk to Audrey tonight to see if we can set the trail camera somewhere there.

I hope the girl is right about Chai sightings.  I called for Chai walking around that neighborhood around 8pm, and again around 11:30pm.  No signs of Chai or any other cat.  I sprinkled cat food around the curbside around where I posted the flyers.  May be she will come out of hiding and get some of the food today.

On a sour note, I noticed that about 3 of my flyers have been taken down by someone.  How could they be so heartless???

Double-Take

I spent another hour last night creating more florescent posters.  I posted them around this little Crossroads park and talked to a few neighbors in that area. The park, although tiny like the size of a backyard, is pretty secluded with shrubs and trees surrounding it. It also abuts a house that seem to be vacant. The neighbor next door said she has not seen a single soul going in or out of that house in 3 months. Hmm, do cats like to be hiding around a deserted house?

Also two houses up from there is a new house construction. Tons of wood and building material piled up outside, and the windows and doors open with lots of nooks to shelter a cat. I talked to a construction worker there too, but he did not see any cat around. Maybe by the time the workers arrive, Chai would be gone during the day.

So, it looks like this area is a prime spot for a cat looking for a comfortable shelter.  I scouted an area in the park that would be ideal for setting up a feeding station.  Probably on top of a tree stump or next to the fence that borders the empty house.  There is also a tree near by that would be great for mounting a trail camera.  I should also scout out the construction site to see if there is evidence of a cat living there.

As if I am not frustrated enough, Justin kept the door open to the deck and let out Java, my other Abyssinian cat.  Ugh!!!  Double ugh!!!!!!  I did not have enough time to get him inside this morning, so he's happily roaming the neighborhood.  I am sure he will come back, but just as I feared, I got two calls this morning from neighbors that they spotted an Abyssinian cat.  Doh!!!  That's Java...  I hate wasting other people's time too.  They are trying to be helpful but because of the neglectful way Justin was acting, they may not call once they see Chai and I have to deal with false reports.  Doh, doh, doh!!!!!!

The trail camera from my backyard revealed the same black-and-white cat feeding from the feeding station, and now two raccoons!  John better get that fence repaired soon so that I don't get wild critters eating all the kitty food...

Florescent Lost-Cat Posters at Work

I got a call at 8:20am from a woman who said she just saw a cat that matches Chai's description run across Black Mountain Road near the Crossroads Park.  She said the cat was small and sleek.  I guess my lost-cat posters in loud florescent colors are making people notice, which is good.

I wills scatter some cat food around that area, post more large florescent posters tonight.  Hopefully, if she is hanging out in that area, additional people would have or will see her.  I really want Chai back at home, cuddling with me.

Now I am thinking that I should invest in another trail camera.  One to go where there has been Chai sightings.  I hear that I need to have the camera with the kitty buffet feeding station stay put in one area for at least a week to ensure that either Chai is coming around or not.  It takes about that long for a cat to feel safe to come around for food.

The trail camera set up in my backyard caught a neighbor's cat eating some jack mackerel around 8pm last night.  At least a cat is able to find the tasty treat.  If Chai is around, sooner or later, she will find the food.  This one woman who also lost her cat said she left the food and the camera out for 6 months before the camera caught pix of her lost cat.  I need to be that patient too.

Update:  Another call from a lady named Lucy who said her daughters saw a reddish-brown cat by Joyce/Buckingham on Wednesday and Friday last week.  She also said that a neighbor saw a cat that matches Chai's description and wanted my phone number.  Hmm, a cat does not travel 2 miles in a few days.  They like to stick to a familiar territory if they find a suitable one.  So either the sighting at the Crossroads Park is wrong or the ones in the Joyce/Buckingham is wrong.  Obviously, I can't choose to eliminate one without further investigation.  This means I need to put more flyers around both locations and scatter cat food in hopes that Chai comes around to nibble at the kibbles.

As long as I am getting these calls, I feel hopeful.  The florescent posters are doing their job.

Food is Untouched...

Disappointment...  The jack mackerel that I had left out yesterday was not touched by any animal.  I was hoping to get a good shot of whomever was eating it the night before.  I still have high hopes that Chai would be coming around to sneak some food into her belly from her old territory.

I need to make more florescent posters/flyers and post them around the strategic intersections around Hillsborough.

So I made more posters/flyers, and drove around town with Jayden and hung them up.  Took me 2.5 hours!  I got a couple of calls right away, but one was about the same reddish-brown cat at Marlborough and Carlton.  Another one was someone who saw a reddish-brown cat in South City, at Spruce and El Camino (Brentwood neighborhood).  A couple of blocks in.  He said he never came across a reddish-brown cat, so it was unusual to him.  Which led him to call me to put posters there.  Hmm, South City???  Could Chai be that far away?  I don't even know whether I should do that.  I am so tired.

I checked the feeding station set up at the backend of my backyard around 7:30pm.  The food was gone!  Since it was still light out, it couldn't have been a raccoon.  I got excited and took out the SD card.  However, when I viewed the video clips, alas, the food was eaten by the neighbors' dogs!!!  They came in through the broken fence.  Hopefully, the neighbors keep them inside at night.  I put out more mackerel.  If Chai is near by, I hope she comes by to eat there.  If the trail camera doesn't take any pix of Chai for a week there, I wouldn't know what else I could do.  Please, Chai, show yourself...

Large Florescent Posters

I made two 28x22 florescent posters to put at the Hillsborough (Black Mtn / Hayne) exit ramps off of Hwy 280.  Stenciling and coloring in the letters took much longer than I anticipated.  Then, I created six 14x11 posters by cutting the large ones in half to put around major intersections.  Forget about stenciling those.  Don't have all the time in the world to do that.

I went to the end of La Canada Rd and took down the trail camera.  Went through all of the video clips.  Only raccoons and deer captured on video.  Sigh.  Not a single cat.

However, the jack mackerel I left out last night at the wooded/shrubbery area at the perimeter of my backyard, along with an empty clean litter box lined with Latte's blanket (RIP, Latte, please help guide Chai home), was totally consumed when I checked this morning.  The food I left by the swimming pool a couple of weeks ago was not touched for days before the wind and rain tossed it around (I think...).  Hmm, is this a good sign?  Could Chai be coming around in the middle of the night to sneak in some food from her old territory?  I sure do hope so.  So I moved the trail camera to this location, pointing at the food source.  I will check later tonight to see if anything has eaten it, and if so, refill it, in case the damn raccoons or skunks got to it first.

At one of the on-line missing cat support group I had joined, a woman who lost her cat for 9 months finally spotted her cat on her trail camera at the perimeter of her yard.  She searched high and low, all over for several miles, and then decided she should look closer.  I was thinking the same, and it gives me great hope that Chai may also be still alive and closer to home than I originally thought.

Whoever ate the mackerel, please let that be Chai...

Stormy Night - Is Chai Staying Dry?

It was very stormy last night, with thunder and lightening.  You rarely get this type of storm in my area, so I am sure the animals, especially the outdoor ones, were pretty frightened.  Java and Kahlua seemed a bit ill at ease inside the house.  We even lost power for a few minutes a couple of times at night.

I heard that rainy nights are really good for looking for cats.  If they were hiding in storm drains, they would be out of there since water is gushing into those drains.  I walked around with a flashlight, peering into bushes and neighbor's front yards for about 45 minutes.  No signs of any cats.

I left more mackerel and cast food out where the trail camera is set up at the end of La Canada Rd.  I viewed the videos of what was captured on my camera for the last 24 hours.  Several damn raccoons eating all of the bait cat food!  I saw one cat walking around, but it looked like it had darker legs and slightly bushier tail than my Chai.  That cat was far from the camera so I could not get a good video.  Perhaps, there will be more cats videos captured on my camera tonight.  If I don't see Chai on the video after two more nights, I will move the camera to the corner of my backyard hoping that she really knows where home is but chooses not to come inside...

I also dropped off some flyers at local vet offices, visited the Humane Society for another walk-through, and replaced damaged flyers.  I ordered some poster boards to create giant florescent posters that I can place at major intersections around town and at the Hwy 280 off-ramps into Hillsborough.  After this, I am really at a loss as to what more I can do besides wait for phone calls, visit the Humane Society twice weekly (Mon evening and Fri morning), and check my camera and the kitty feeding station...

Chai-Chai, please come home...  I miss you.  I hope you are still alive and taking good care of yourself.

Lost Abyssinian Cat "Chai"

Chai has been missing for 22 days now.  I am just consumed by her disappearance.  Today I got a call from a neighbor that she saw a cat severly injured on the road, just a block away.  She did not get a good glimpse of her because her friend was freaked out.  I called the Hillsborough Police whom she had reported the sighting.  They asked me to call the SPCA.  When I did, I was relieved that the cat was a male cat (but sad that someone lost their beloved pet, if he belonged to someone).  I know exactly how it feels to lose your pet by a car accident.  Happened to me more than I care to count.

I will check the trail camera that I have set up at the end of La Canada Rd for 24 hours now.  This is a new location near a dense forest/shrubbery area.  I will have the camera set here for 3 more days, and if it does not capture any pix of Chai, then I will move the camera and the feeding station to the corner of my back yard, where it drops down and near the bushes.  The food that I had set up on the deck near the cat door has gone untouched for weeks now.  Nothing comes by there.

The camera set up three houses up from mine did not capture any pix of Chai.  Halmuni was so sure she saw Chai there, but to an old Korean woman's eyes, I guess all brown cats look alike.  The camera captured a cat that has Chai coloring, but much bigger and had slightly striped legs.  Chai's legs don't have any stripes.  The same three cats came by.  No Chai.

I will set up large florescent poster boards around town this weekend.  Will also visit the Humane Society tomorrow morning.  My schedule is Monday evening and Friday morning.  So far no Chai, either alive or dead at the Humane Society.  I think about her all the time.  I hope she is safe and getting food and clean water.  I WILL bring her home.

Chai is Lost!!!

Chai, my beloved ruddy Abyssinian of almost 3 years, has gone missing.  She was sitting on my lap at midnight on March 21, 2012.  When I woke up the next morning, she was nowhere in sight.  I walked up and down the street calling out to her in the morning of March 21, before heading to work.  She's NEVER done this before.

Chai - 3-yo Spayed Female Ruddy Abyssinian Cat

Last time she went missing, she was up on the roof of our neighbor's house across the street and two doors down.  She was chased by another cat.  I found her by calling out her name as I was walking down the street.  I heard her meow.  Other than this one time, she was never too far from home, and actually preferred to stay indoors most of the time.

I am pretty sure she "ran away" this time because we got a new kitten.  Kahlua, the new kitten, arrived exactly one week prior to Chai's disappearance.  The reason I got a new kitten was that Latte, one of the tree cats I have, was hit by a car and died shortly after I discovered her barely clinging onto her life next to my garage.  I missed my lap cat so much that I decided to get a cat just like Latte.  That's when Kahlua came into the picture.  She was kept in a separate room for three days before letting her out and be acquainted with Java (another Abyssinian) and Chai, under supervision.  At first, they both hissed at one another.  But by the end of the week, they would sniff at each other's noses and not hiss.  So I thought they were starting to get along.

But then, Chai goes out the cat flap between midnight and 7am, and she does not return.  One cat dying on me and another cat going missing within a short two-week span made me almost have a nervous breakdown.  I am a train wreck.

I reported her missing with HomeAgain.com where her microchip is registered.  I got lost-cat posters and plastered them all around the neighborhood in Hillsborough.  I received a few calls, but nothing definitive.  Everytime I go there, there is no sign of Chai.

I've been reading up on lost-cat behavior, joined the MissingCatAssistance group on Yahoo.  I posted her missing on CraigsList.  I scour PetHarbor.com to see if she was taken in by a shelter outside of the Peninsula Humane Society.  I check the Humane Society at least once a week.  I've consulted animal communicators, but I found them to be useless, taking money from desperate folks.  I've sent out 1000 postcards to neighbors within 1-mile radius of my house.

I've got trail cameras and set them up in different locations with the cameras trained at the feeding stations.  I am keeping one in my backyard, with the other one moving from one location to another based on sightings.

The trail camera set up on Lookout Rd capture coyotes (yikes)!  That worries me a great deal...

Coyote at Lookout Rd

I hope Chai is steering clearly away from the danger of predators.  She is very petite agile and fast, so I would hope that she can outrun and go into areas that coyotes can't get into.